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A great start to the new region! I love Shooti's voice, he sounds like a little kid (well, is a newbie trainer, but still) and was he taking pictures of the windows? When he picked Smugleaf and Mijumaru made that face it was the new Piplup. Oh, and Oak in a pinapple T-shirt FTW!

Meowth is an important part of TR, and removing him would be as good as removing either Jessie or James. The trio won't be the same if anyone of them gets removed from the show, so they couldn't have just let Meowth stay with the others.

I'm not saying to remove him, I was saying they should've came up with a reason that didn't sound so lazy from a writing perspective.

And I think what Giovanni is talking about the criminal attention stuff, is basically that they can be spotted more easily if they are seen with poke'mon not native to Isshu(although I have to contradict myself that there uniforms work just as well as the poke'mon).

And this goes back to Meowth being there. Wouldn't that make them easier to spot with HIM THERE?

Originally Posted by ShinyCharyZard

Meowth isn't just another TR capture though... He's a member of the organization, Giovanni couldn't exactly fire him just because his species isn't native to Isshu.

According to the one quote this came from, he didn't seem to refer to Meowth as part of the group(an employee). He seemed to refer to the two to only take Meowth with them.

Originally Posted by Gaiash

Plus as I said in another thread Meowth spends a fair amount of time dressed as humans or different Pokemon.

And what about the time he doesn't spend dressed as a human being? Doesn't that make them easier to spot? And doesn't Wobbuffet spend alot of time disguised (poorly) as a human?

Originally Posted by Gaiash

That's a horrible thing to say. Mijumaru is nowhere near being the annoying pest Piplup was.

I think Mijumaru was way too showcased NOT to be owned by Ash... Pokabu kinda dissapeared after Ash left the lab... well thats cos it didn't run off or whatever. Overall.. good start. I'm glad they didn't do the "omg you broke my bike" thing again.. truly shows that its a fresh start.

And then they sort of shot that originality out the window by having Ash catch the generic regional bird pokemon. Would it kill them to NOT follow that pattern for EVERY region?

a bit late, but it actually says it in the first 30 seconds of the episode, I specifically heard "Jyuusai" which means ten years old.

It could be possible that it might of reffered to Ash as ten years old in a different context. Like saying "they continue to follow the journey Ash started when he was ten years old."

I don't know, I suppose I just find it odd that they'd refer to Ash as ten years old after not doing so for over a decade. Personally, I think Ash's age was something that was best left open to interpretation.

Eh. This was a pretty standard first ep of a region, imo. The only parts that really stood out were TR(mostly because I'm not used to seeing them be serious), Mijimaru(the writers KNOW that a large chunk of the fanbase doesn't like it, don't they? Just look at how HAPPY it was when Ash called it cute, and how devistated it was that Shooti didn't choose it!), and Ash's embarassing loss to Shooti(ten bucks says Shooti's going to have a hell of an ego now that he beat such an experienced trainer). That said, it wasn't bad, just not as good as I know the series will be later on.

Yes, that was an embarassing loss. Not only can Pikachu not use its electric attacks, but simply attempting to use one makes it so tired and sluggish that it can't stand up? At least when it lost to Paul's Elekid at the beginning of Sinnoh, we could be mollified by the knowledge that Paul was already a pretty hotshot trainer. Shooti and Tsutarja were both fresh from the mint.

Way to go, writers. Screw Pikachu a little harder next time.

On a positive note, Iron Tail looks much better. Finally we can tell the difference between "[metal-related] attack" and "[generic white glow for every purpose] attack." Glad they seem to have gotten rid of that ubiquitous glow idea.

Robin Williams
1951-2014"What's it gonna be? I don't know. But maybe along the way, you take my hand, tell a few jokes, and have some fun. C'mon, pal. You're not afraid, are ya?"

Yes, that was an embarassing loss. Not only can Pikachu not use its electric attacks, but simply attempting to use one makes it so tired and sluggish that it can't stand up? At least when it lost to Paul's Elekid at the beginning of Sinnoh, we could be mollified by the knowledge that Paul was already a pretty hotshot trainer. Shooti and Tsutarja were both fresh from the mint.

I can't help but agree. Despite the fact that Pikachu wasn't able to use elctric attacks, it still should've been able to take more attacks from the grass snake. It really shouldn't have been a tough job for Pikachu to dodge the attacks with its speed, and then attack with Iron Tail or Quick attack.

I can't help but agree. Despite the fact that Pikachu wasn't able to use elctric attacks, it still should've been able to take more attacks from the grass snake. It really shouldn't have been a tough job for Pikachu to dodge the attacks with its speed, and then attack with Iron Tail or Quick attack.

It wasn't that simple though. Pikachu couldn't use an electric attack which also hurt it's mind flow. It weakened his state of mind which in turn made him feel weaker. The mind is a powerful thing.

If Ash had gone into the battle knowing Pikachu couldn't use its Electric attacks, he would've won. But he suddenly found that out mid-battle and naturally began worrying about Pikachu's health. And Pikachu itself was clearly upset when its attacks failed. You can't really blame them.

If Ash had gone into the battle knowing Pikachu couldn't use its Electric attacks, he would've won. But he suddenly found that out mid-battle and naturally began worrying about Pikachu's health. And Pikachu itself was clearly upset when its attacks failed. You can't really blame them.

Exactly. Pikachu can't attack, so Ash was concerned about Pikachu, and Pikachu was scared shitless. Who *would* blame them? I personally think Shooti was a heartless fool for continuing the onslaught. He was either being cruel or a novice, that he didn't cease his attacks once he saw Pikachu's problems.

I think because 99&#37; of people who watch Pokemon play the games, they just can't wrap their mind around the concept that the anime doesn't deal with levels at all.

Strength in the anime isn't just about how much experience ( or levels) a certain pokemon has acquired, it's about the battling strategy of the trainer, the will power of the pokemon, the circumstances surrounding and affecting the battle, etc, as we have seen countless times in the run of the show.

There are so many variables that determine outcomes of fights in the anime that once you accept the anime as a standalone medium - not dependant on the games for reasoning - then it becomes way more enjoyable.

So... I was wable to watch this subbed and here goes a list of things that (I think) haven't been told yet:

- The narrator actually says Ash is a 10 year old boy;
- Ash is going to Isshu with his mother in vacations;
- Jessie and James are going to Isshu to catch rare and strong pokémon, because TR's goals are to create the most powerful army of pokémon, said Giovanni. it really seems that jessie and James are going more serious this time;
- The TR woman says there's a secret organization in the Isshu region already, to which Giovanni replies it's good, because they'll show themselves once they come to know TR is there, too;
- In the plane, Jessie says she didn't expected to meet Ash going to Isshu;
- Much like Professor Oak said it was impossible for Ash to have seen Ho-oh back in the first Kanto days, he said Delia and he just saw clouds from where they were when Ash said he saw a pokémon in the sky;
- Since professor Oak is in Isshu for work; Araragi appears saying she's sorry she's late to pick him up. Then, he presents her to Ash and his mother. "Even though she's so young, she's a very important pokémon researcher of Isshu's pokémon";
- After saying Kanto's pokémon are rare in Isshu, Araragi says no Pikachu was ever seen there (Ash actually asked if Pikachu were rare in Isshu);
- Kanoko town! Obviously much bigger than the likes of Pallet;
- Araragi says everything's fine with Pikachu;
- Araragi's assistant tells her the new trainer just arrived from his travelings... She replies: "This soon?". Oak explains she also gives the new trainers their first pokémon;
- Ash asks Shooti: "Weren't you so excited last night that you couldn't even sleep?"
- Shooti laughs because he says Ash came from a very small place in Kanto... Ash asks what's wrong with that and Araragi interrupts;
- Ash thinks Pokabu is full of joy, Mijumaru is really cute and Tsutaja is full of confidence;
- Ash says he can't decide which one is best; Shooti tells him he's the one who's gonna pick;
- Zukan on Tsutaja: "Tsutaja; a grass-type pokémon. It has a calm temper and is very confident. It uses its tail to generate energy."
- Araragi: "You can only keep six pokémon with you" - Shooti: "Yeah, that's basic knowledge.";
- Shooti's wants to take part on Isshu's league;
- When taking pictures of Pikachu, Shooti is asked by Ash: "What are you doing?" - he replies: "That's why people from small towns are such a problem; this is the only Pikachu in this region, so what I'm doing is a experiment";
- Blablabla Shooti: "Is it strong?" Ash: "Of course it is!" -> battle time!
- Shooti, when Pikachu's electric attacks fail: "Is this an estrategy? You ordered moves he can't even use!";
- Shooti to Tsutarja: "You were OK to begin with, I'm glad I chose you.";
- Shooti to Ash: "You, there: I advice you to begin again with the basics";
- Araragi says Pikachu's absorved too much electricity from that cloud, so it's overloaded;
- Oak tells Ash Pikachu lost control of its electric attacks; it's not able to use them when it wants to; Ash asks if it's gonna stay like that forever;
- Thundercloud's back!
- Araragi about Zekrom: "it's a legend... people say that, in Isshu, there's a god of the rainy clouds that watches over Pokémon and humans... And it passes the sky's judgement on when necessary.

I agree that PokemonloveerXD has a point. Shooti only won this battle by luck. He have underestimates Ash who happened to be very and much of the experienced trainer came from Pallet Town since Kanto. If Zekrom have taken away Pikachu's electrical abilities, Ash and his buddy would have take Shooti and his pokemon out.

I am here to help others to solve their problem,and I'm also the big fan of Kissshipping.

Ok I've seriously been neglecting to even comment on this episode, despite it being the beginning of a new saga and all. I just didn't have time to put all of my thoughts on this historic episode together but today was my day off so I've found some time to, once again, type my usual episode review/essay/rant. Hopefully, it will be one of my best reviews since I found this episode to be quite enjoyable which is a change considering most episodes like this turn out to be kind of bland. Well here it goes then.

I liked the beginning of the episode showing Reshiram and Zekrom and all that good stuff because it reminded me of the Pokemon movies and how some guy is always giving the fans some Pokemon world backstory. A nice touch indeed. First thing I notice is that this takes place in Pallet Town to start us off. I kind of disliked that right away since usually, the new Pokemon sagas start in the new region right off the bat but whatever; I'll let this slide. Anyway, I noticed that Ash was already wearing his new Isshu region/Best Wishes clothes which makes me assume he was planning on going to Isshu right away. Sinnoh's trophies and other items were in Ash's room so at least we know the writers are being consistent and pointing at previous events haha.

Ash's eye color and hat were something else I want to talk/rant about; why the eye color change? I get the new hat but his eyes were great before this change. Totally out of left field I think. Anyway Ash's mother appeared and apparently, she fixed Ash's hat meaning she's some sort of private fashion consultant now. Then the heading out and Professor Oak appeared! I liked the car but his pineapple-print shirt was just hidious; that man has no sense of style. He then asked Ash to hurry up and board the car or something like that rather. Team Rocket's appearance in the next scene was what I was waiting for really. Their new black outfits are ugly to me though; I thought the point of white outfits was to distance themselves from other Team Rocket members and stuff. Whatever though.

Anyway Giovanni gave them some new orders and showed them the map of the Isshu region which would be the new region Team Rocket was targeting. Giovanni's new clothes in the next scene looked too Japanese for my tastes though; I liked his other clothes. At least he still has his old Persian. I liked that plane that Ash, Delia, and Oak were leaving to Isshu on; what is it called exactly? I liked that Team Rocket snuck into the same plane and were still tailing Ash; I just thought they'd find their own mode of transportation. Ash was reading about Isshu and almost wet his pants when Oak told him that brand-new Pokemon appear there. Oh please, this happens too often now, he should get used to it. Anyway, the new title card was amazing with the Isshu Dex and all. I can tell I'm gonna love this new series judging from this change lol.

Anyway they finally arrived in Isshu which looked like your generic town from the air and I still have no idea why Ash and Pikachu acted like it was their first time seeing trees and stuff. I loved the music that played as they got there since it was a remix of the ingame theme music (told you Ash-kid). Pikachu starting acting strange as that black cloud appeared but little Ash saw a Mamanbou and Pikachu followed him. Team Rocket's appearance then was quite predictable considering they strike at the worst time possible. Team Rocket trapped Pikachu in that movie 2-looking thing and absorbed it's electricity but then that cloud thing distracted them. Odd to see the effect it would have since it appeared that Zekrom was in the cloud which was unexpected. We got our first peek at Iris and Kibago, yay. It seemed Zekrom didn't want much else with Ash and Pikachu after that though and it left.

Delia and Oak went to check on Ash but he was fine since the impact didn't seem to have hurt him. Typical. Professor Araragi finally appeared and more Black and White music played. They all drove to her lab and Ash and Pikachu caught a glimpse of some of the native Isshu Pokemon like Shikijika, Mamepato, and Minezumi; they were so cute! Pikachu's cheeks were starting to act up though, hmm. Swana were seen in a lake and then it cut to commercials though the new eye-catch was amazing in it's own right. When it returned, we saw how the starting town looks like in the anime. It was much bigger than I thought it would be though. At Professor Araragi's lab, she ran tests on Pikachu and it seemed there was something wrong with it (but I loved the remixed Pokemon Center music!). Her fat assisstant walked in and said something that sounded like "Shinji trainer" and I thought it was Shinji/Paul but apparently it meant something like "new trainer" or whatever haha.

Shooti finally made his debut and he was seen taking pictures of things with his digital camera; I understand where his name came from now. His Japanese VA sounded like a girl though; yuck. Professor Araragi introduced Ash to Shooti though Shooti found something funny about Ash's home region and town. Arrogant little shiz. Araragi introduced Pokabu, then Mijumaru, then Tsutarja and all were cute but I liked that Ash and Mijumaru got along from the start. Shooti chose Tsutarja and Mijumaru was clearly surprised he wasn't chosen lol. Tsutarja will do well with Shooti though; arrogance loves arrogance as they say teehee. He then got his Isshu Dex (which looked like an MP3 player) and his six Pokeballs and started leaving but Ash followed him. Shooti seemed surprised about Pikachu though and took pictures.

I was surprised that he scolded Ash about having Pikachu though; I mean, what's wrong with that? Anyway Ash and Shooti challenged each other to a battle and as soon as it began, Shooti takes more pictures? Weirdo. At least Mijumaru was watching the battle like a cute little Starter haha. I laughed out loud that a weak little Tsutarja withstood Pikachu's Quick Attack at the start haha. Then when Pikachu attempted a Thunderbolt, Pikachu's power was revealed to have been cut short, most likely by that Zekrom from earlier. Even Volt Tackle was out at that point! Ash had to use Iron Tail instead in order to deal with the suddden lack of Electric type moves, but Tsutarja, being the agile snake that it is, dodged it quickly. Cheater. Tsutarja then ended things with it's Grass Mixer and knocked Pikachu out! No.....

Well things got more complicated after that point in several ways. Shooti's win meant that naturally, he'd get 10 times as arrogant as before so that was expected kinda. Pikachu was tested again and just as Professor Araragi was talking, Zekrom's black cloud appeared again. Lightning made the machines in the lab turn off and Professor Araragi finally identified the cloud as being related to Zekrom. This first episode of Best Wishes ended with the best cliffhanger in the longest time, which is why I love this episode so much despite it's various flaws. I think I have a lot of good things to look forward to in this arc so I'll try to stick with it for a long time to see the entire Best Wishes anime saga resolve. I think this episode deserves a 10/10 for being pretty much perfect.

Ash's eye color and hat were something else I want to talk/rant about; why the eye color change? I get the new hat but his eyes were great before this change. Totally out of left field I think.

they didn't change his eye color. they were always brown all they did was make his iris' (the color part of your eyes) bigger. since they were smaller before you was never able to notice it. now that they are bigger you notice the color of them.

i liked the episode it was different since no one ever mentioned isshu to ash before hand until they got there.

Ash's eye color and hat were something else I want to talk/rant about; why the eye color change? I get the new hat but his eyes were great before this change. Totally out of left field I think.

Ash's eyes have been brown since episode 1 of the first series. Here is a shot I took from that first episode of his eyes which you can see are brown.http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...esEpisode1.png
All that was changed was the art style and I love this change. For one thing people will stop thinking Ash has black eyes or when drawing him in a different style getting his eye colour wrong (I once drew him with blue eyes before being corrected).

Ash's eyes have been brown since episode 1 of the first series. Here is a shot I took from that first episode of his eyes which you can see are brown.http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...esEpisode1.png
All that was changed was the art style and I love this change. For one thing people will stop thinking Ash has black eyes or when drawing him in a different style getting his eye colour wrong (I once drew him with blue eyes before being corrected).

Oh. Well I commented on this image before I think, and I said something along the lines of Ash's eyes only being brown-colored in certain close-ups at certain times in the anime. At every other time, his eyes appeared black-colored. Now they look to be hazel-colored, all the time and not just when it's convenient for the animators or whatever. To me, it's a major change I don't feel too happy about. To me, there's a difference between brown, black, and hazel eyes that's just too noticeable to ignore.

I'm digging the artistic opening they got for the series. I liked how they opened this instead of Ash preparing to leave on his own for a new region, he's taking a vacation with his mom & Oak. So Shooti, he's the Isshu version of Todd but with a personality akin to Gary & Paul. Also it look's as if Ash got a makeover in the design department, he's looking abit thinner than in previous seasons. Looking forward to see what develops as the series progresses.

My Grandmother always said...
"She who walks the path of heaven will rule over everything"